Here's some of what general manager Adrian Hanauer had to say about the decision.

"In my mind this was the most successful season in Sounders history. … I truly believe that we were the best team in Major League Soccer in 2014. ... As far as I’m concerned, the (MLS coach of the year) vote was improperly counted: In my mind Sigi Schmid is the coach of the year in MLS. … It’s very hard to take a good team and make it a special team, and I think that takes a really special coaching year and performance to do that. So as a consequence of that, I am very excited and happy today to announce that we have signed a multiyear deal with Sigi. Sigi will be around for the foreseeable future. We’re very happy to have him as a coach. I’ve said it many times, not only a fantastic coach but a fantastic person, a fantastic human being, a great person in the community, and someone I’m proud to call a friend of mine."

Here's some of what Schmid had to say:

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On getting the new contract: It feels great. I was happy to come here when I came here in 2009, and I haven’t regretted a moment that I’ve been here. I’m sure at times the fans have, but I haven’t regretted a moment. It’s great to continue to be able to work in this organization … It’s something I’m looking forward to and am extremely excited about. What I said after the game on Sunday, I don’t know if it’s completely digested through my system yet, but there’s nothing that I want to do more than to bring an MLS Cup to this city and to these fans. And to know that I’ve got the opportunity to continue to try and do that is something that I’m excited about and I’m really looking forward to.

On how much longer he wants to coach: I think my wife asked me that question too. …I still enjoy it. I still love it. I still like being around the game. I still like being around the players. You still like being close to the banter of the locker room. But more so than anything, the beauty of coaching is that no game is the same and no year is the same. It’s always different. You’re molding it, you’re going into a season with expectations, you’re expecting certain things, and then things come along that change it, and you’ve got to reshape it and remold it. And that’s the beauty of the sport. It’s the difficulty of it, but it’s also the beauty of it, and it’s what I enjoy. As I asked somebody a long, long time ago – he was a friend of my father’s and he was well into his 70s and he was still working – and I said ‘Why are you still working? You should be retired.’ He goes, ‘They tell me when you retire you’re supposed to do what you enjoy.’ He goes, ‘I enjoy working.’ I enjoy coaching.

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